Simple Vintage Fabric Applique Nickname Tee

My little sister came into the world when I was thirteen years old. Over the years our relationship changed from where I went from being like a second mommy to us being super close friends. She’s still one of my favorite people in the whole world! There have been lots of nicknames throughout the years. The one that has stuck to this day is Pooka. I started calling her that when she was around three and had a total love for the cartoon film Anastasia who had a precious little dog named Pooka. Hannah just celebrated her 20th birthday last month. I always make her a gift, and this year I wanted to do something fun for her. So I decided I would make her an embellished tee with her nick name. 

Here’s What You Need:

*Tee Shirt

*Vintage Fabric Scrap

*Steam a Seam Double sided interfacing

*Computer and word or editing program

*Pencil, Scissors, Ruler

*Sewing Machine and Thread

*Iron

*Fabric Stabilizer

Instructions:

The first thing you need to do is open up your editing software. Write out your word in the font you like. Play around with the size of the font until it fills the screen to the size you like. You can measure it with a ruler to be exact if you like. Mine was around nine inches wide. Take your steam a seam and hod it up to the screen and trace the word onto your paper.

Take the top sheet off of your steam a seam. Iron your fabric and place it on the sticky side of the steam a seam sheet. Cover with the top paper that has the writing on it. Cut out your word. Remove the backing and take away the top sheet. Lay it out on your tee shirt. When you have it centered and where you like it, iron the fabric down to the tee. I did not have any fabric stabilizer, but I would recommend using it on the inside of your tee to help keep your fabric from stretching while stitching.

Now you are ready to top stitch. Set your machine to a zigzag stitch. I made my stitch length at 1 and my zigzag at 3. Stitch along the outside of the word, outlining it. When you have stitched along the outside, you can back stitch and then clip your threads. Then stitch around any other areas that need outlining like the loops. Clip your excess threads give a quick iron and then you are ready to wear.

Hannah loves her Pooka tee and it looks super cute on her! I thought even if she was too embarrassed to wear it out she could wear it with her favorite pj bottoms. Of course I should’ve known, she does wear it out, like a boss! This tee was super simple to make! It took me less than an hour and I only had to use a large scrap of fabric. I was thinking I may have to make one for myself with Posh on it. Hannah used to call me Posh when the Spice Girls were popular. She of course was Baby spice and my best friend Katie was Sporty spice. We would dance to their music all the time. I hope you all will give this easy tee a try sometime. I think you’ll love it! I’ll be back soon with more projects. Until then…

Happy Crafting!